Coffee Grounds Repurposed

Whether you brew coffee through a filter or brew coffee from a K-Cup, hang onto those used grounds! In the warmer months, I use them for my acid loving plants. Here in my kitchen this winter, my coffee grounds are used for exfoliating my dry and smelly hands.

Rinse with plain water. For me, not only does the smell go away once I've washed with coffee grounds but, my hands are super-duper smooth. Please excuse me now while I take my afternoon coffee break ;)

@Erin Brennan....I have African Violets and they bloom every year. I use plant food specifically for A.V. If you use coffee grounds, do not water your A.V. plants until the soil is dry. The coffee grounds in the soil mix will keep the soil wet longer, which could eventually lead to rot or fungus problems. The food for A.V. I use is 14 drops to 1/2 gallon of water and just water them when they are dry. I never let them sit in water either (if I water from the bottom) as this will also cause rot. Hope this helps!!

Also use full caffeine used coffee grounds as an ant killer. They take grounds back to nest and everyone eats the grounds and go into caffeine shock and die. Not harmful for kids or pets or wildlife but lethal to ants.

Sorry but I beg to differ with Diane. Caffeine maybe great to keep ants out but it is also lethal to dogs! Look it up! Just be careful of where you put it so your dogs don't ingest any of it. I don't know if it will hurt cats but if you love your pets don't take any chances of them getting into any of your coffee grounds. I always spread my wet grounds on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven on 250 degrees for about 15 minutes stirring them every little bit then leave them on the counter over night to be sure they are good and dry. Then I keep my dried used coffee grounds in an empty clearly marked coffee can until I need them. I also use them in my garden and flower beds during the summer months. Hosta's also love them as well as azealeas, tomatoes, squash, etc.

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Good post!
I do a weekly collection to a local café and take away their weeks worth of coffee grounds. It is usually best to compost them before adding to the garden. Like your tip for smelly hands and exfoliating, there are many other uses. Putting the grounds un-composted around your plants can be a little too much for them. I believe they add nitrogen back to the soil which acid loving plants like. For good composting, 25% nitrogen and 75% carbon is the way to go, so adding too much to your compost is not a good idea. Needs to be balanced with brown stuff such as newspaper, brown cardboard, brown autumn leaves, dried out brown grass clippings and dried brown garden prunings.

Did you know another good tip for removing onion and garlic smells from hands is to rub your hands on stainless steel. You can buy quite cheaply a piece of stainless steel in the shape of a bar of soap and keep it by your kitchen sink or rub your hands on the stainless steel draining board. We bought ours some time ago in a dollar store.

recycle (in Recycle Bin). Or punch some little holes in bottom and grow some African Violets, or fresh herbs.Line them(cups with plants) up in a small shallow container to make for decorative flower
/herbal arrangement.

If you mix the coffee grounds with a little olive oil, it will helps soften the hands. I don't compost them because I live in an area where the soil is already extremely acidic; sure don't need anymore of that.

When trying out fragrances have some coffee beans near and take a sniff to neutralize your sense of smell, and continue to compare fragrances or even repel a foul smell you can't seem to get rid of from your nose. Coffee grounds work but not as well.

For smokers its a good idea to save the coffee grounds (let dry up a little,1 or 2 days) and put in your ash tray, it really makes a difference in keeping the stench from the cigarette down and under control, just put your cigarette bud out in it.